Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 5, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 24^th Birthday, Sally Parker!

Cassie and Michael are helping their friend to celebrate her special day, but we haven’t been involved at all – as usual when they are home; and don’t need deliveries made when they can’t do that in-person.

We can personally report on the football game in Varney last night that our team won by forty-one to twenty-four with help from Aaron’s two touchdowns.  It was another game with some defense issues, but our team is getting better; and that showed up on the field last night.  Our cheer squad was a hit too; Naomi gets a lot of attention; and Ethan still has fun because she spends some quality time making sure that everyone knows that he is her boyfriend – even though she does get more attention from other guys than he gets from the girls around us.  That might change starting next year when he starts playing football too; so maybe she’s just preparing for the future! ;^)

Aaron and Naomi had to deal with post-game work and a minor party, so Ethan and I only had Aiden and Sophia with us after we got home until they could join us.  We ended up having some music time after a visit with Mom and Dad that Naomi and Aaron joined us for once they caught up with us; and then we wrapped up our day with Halloween movies and co-ed cuddle time.  We stayed up too-late; the co-ed nap time wasn’t long enough; and Magi fatigue healing was used before Tai Chi by the river and a hot breakfast.  With busy weekends ahead of us, a full chores day was needed; and we all got to work on that after the breakfast clean-up.  Sophia and Aaron worked with us too as part of a six-teen team, but that also meant two added yards; and that kept us busy all day with a few breaks for food and a couple of cool-down swims.  It got hot today with a high topping ninety, so while the river is cooling down; that worked for us today – including with cleaning off the worst of the dirt from gardening and the rest of the messiest chores.  We really did get a lot done today by the time we stopped for a late dinner, and that was an entertainment highlight for us; since most of the parents also got together with us for that barbeque meal.  Mom and Dad hosted; we all had a blast; and then all of our guests headed for their homes because we were all tired by then; and didn’t make plans for any added play time or sleepovers.

While that isn’t very exciting, Ethan and I were good with moving on to bath or Jacuzzi time and a quicker wind-down to our bedtime.  Getting clean helped a bit with how we’re feeling, but we are also still really tired, so let’s just wrap this up without any commentary on world news or anything else.  It feels great to get so much done today, so we’ll also be able to enjoy the fun we’ll get to have with the fall festival and Halloween adventures coming up next over the rest of the month.  Being rested and at full-power will be needed for all of that too, so since we can do that tonight; we will – and continue to write about those stories as we live them!  Stay tuned for that; and we’ll move on to some quality dream time now.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 4, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Another football-Friday is here; and this update is early because we’ll be hitting the road soon for Varney and the away game our team will be playing in there.  The weather is awesome again with sun and a high that has hit eighty-one and will stay warm into the evening.  Ethan will have to deal with the opposites of enjoying Naomi’s cheering in her warm-weather uniform and his dislike of having so many other guys appreciate his girlfriend too; and his sisters, family, and friends will have fun with those jokes for years to come! ;^)

Moving along, our day started well with Tai Chi by the river and a standard school day breakfast with Mom and Dad; Ethan had his morning weight training after that; and then our school day was busy with two tests; some project work; and a bonus outdoor adventure for science class.  Now we’re home for a visit with Mom and to get the lounge ready for another teen co-ed sleepover; we’re packed for our football outing; and will be meeting up for our ride to Varney with Aiden and some other local football fans soon.  We’re hoping for a good night and a win for our team, but the rest of our adventure stories will need to wait for our next update while we get out there and enjoy the fun with family and friends.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 3, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

This is a strange, unusual night for us because we are actually having a normal night without any co-ed overnight guests!  Sure, this really is supposed to be our normal, but we half-wish that we could get away with having our favorite cuddle buddies living with us full-time!  That isn’t going to happen for a few more years, though, so let’s get to our news of the day.

Mom and Dad’s anniversary dinner party was awesome, and while Ethan and I did a fair bit of work too; we had a blast with all of the fun too.  Details of our parents’ kid-free night won’t be provided here in our journal; and we will pretend that we have no idea why they are still smiling tonight.  We do want to mention that we got teased yet again this year about being belated honeymoon gifts or souvenirs, and the roasting last night included most of our favorite stories – including the stories about Cassie.  This was also the anniversary of her adoption, but we don’t really think about that at all; since she has always been our sister.

Getting back to the news from last night, Mom and Dad were sent home by eight-thirty; Cassie and Michael had six teen helpers for the clean-up; and then we had fun with some music play time and a movie before eventually getting around to some nap time that was a co-ed sofa sleepover for the teens in the house.  Tai Chi by the river this morning was chilly; we followed that up with a hot breakfast; and then Naomi, Sophia, and I helped with the clean-up while our boys went to the school for their weight training.  Cassie helped with some bonus girl time before we went to school; and then our academic adventures included bonus outdoor time as we enjoyed another hot, sunny day with a high in the eighties.  While playing with our friends after school would have been great, we needed to work-play at the lab or archives instead; we had a snack dinner break between the work and game night at the Inn; and then the play time with our family and friends was the entertainment highlight of our day.

Mom did a Magi lesson with us after we got home from the Inn, but didn’t want us doing any work – though she did while Dad needed to work tonight too; and there is a lot going on with our family businesses and charities right now thanks to natural disasters and expanding wars.  We really don’t want to get into a rant tonight; so you really only need to know that life is getting worse for people in the areas of the ‘top’ conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East; and none of our world leaders are doing anything to help end the devastation.  We could say the same about the disaster relief from Hurricane Helene, and while we can appreciate the complaints related to our governments spending money elsewhere and leaving our own people suffering more than needed; this should simply be about doing what is right and helping everyone most in need right now.

I’d better wrap this up; since it really would be easy to get rolling on a rant – especially when politicians and news ‘experts’ seem to be more-interested in the theatre and dividing people than in showing by example how to fix problems.  Ethan and I are supposed to get more sleep tonight, so that’s all for this report.  Stay tuned, since we’re expecting to have another awesome weekend – if not quite as party-intense as the last one!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 2, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 14^th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Happy 2^nd Birthday, Bradley Benton!

The teens in the house took care of the special breakfast for Mom and Dad this morning after a chilly Tai Chi workout by the river; and that made for an awesome start to our day.  While we moved on to our academic adventures; Mom and Dad had work at home or the office; they went to the Inn for a special lunch; and we’ll be heading over to Cassie and Michael’s house soon for the anniversary dinner party.  Ethan and I are drafted to help with that work, so we need to get going now; and we’ll be away for the rest of the night so that Mom and Dad get a kid-free night for one of their gifts.  Naomi will join us after her cheer squad practice, and Aiden, Sophia, and Aaron are on the dinner guest list too; so we’re expecting an awesome rest of the day that we can write about in our next report.  Stay tuned for that; and we’ll get started on those amazing work and play adventures right now! ;^)

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 1, 2024

 

Ehlana, Ethan, Naomi, and Aiden:

Happy 2^nd Anniversary, Marc and Gretchen!

Cassie and Michael have helped their friends with another dinner party today, but we didn’t have anything to do with this celebration.  That wasn’t true for Uncle Nick’s birthday, since we did a lot of work before and after that meal; kept busy the rest of the time with kid control of some of our next-gen cousins and other kids; and managed to have some fun along the way too – including all of the usual birthday fun that happened around dinner and the birthday cakes desserts.  The party rolled on into the evening, but it was a school night; so we moved on by around eight-thirty.

By then, Naomi and I had decided that we needed a girls’ night, so I packed an overnight bag and went home with her; we had fun; didn’t have any trouble with Eli; and did include Liz in our bedtime girl chat entertainment.  While we were busy with that; Aiden was still with Ethan for the night; they apparently played video games for a while; and then they went to bed earlier than we did – a definite change from the norm!

We didn’t get together for Tai Chi this morning, but then the guys still headed to the school early for their weight training with the football team; so we wouldn’t have been together for the walk to school anyway.  Our academic adventures were good today, but not newsworthy.  Naomi had her usual noon cheer squad practice for Tuesdays; and then our band practice after school was a highlight of our day as we continued to work on Halloween-themed songs that we’ll be performing at the Haunted Walk and the seniors’ party.  We should mention that we’ve been recruited again for our band to play a set at the Haunted Walk too, so we’ll need to fit in some practices, but as of now; we won’t be playing at the school dance.

After our practice, we came home; helped Mom with making dinner; and enjoyed that meal with Mom and Dad.  The teens in the house took care of the clean-up; we dealt with our homework; and then Mom did a group Magi lesson with us before we moved into the office to do some charity work.  The mess left behind after the hurricane has been extensive and worse than expected – especially in inland communities that have been devastated by flooding; so we’re continuing to offer aid where we can.  There are also new problems in the Middle East as Israel is escalating the fighting in the region and has invaded Lebanon.  It is more-difficult to send aid into war zones, but we also need to do what we can to protect partners in the region where possible; and position aid to send in once the fighting subsides.  We are not going to rant on how insane our world leaders are to allow these wars to continue and get worse for everyone involved; and we think that it is much-worse that most of the current conflicts are happening because ‘our’ side instigated and incited them.

This is our last night hosting Aiden before his parents will be home tomorrow, but since the four of us have really loved the extra co-ed time; we’ll see what we can do about having more of them in the near-future – whether here or at other homes.  Maybe we can talk other parents into going on vacations! ;^)

That’s all for this report, and while we’re not ready to go to sleep now; we are ready to turn off our computers and wind down toward our co-ed nap time with some quality cuddle time and maybe a movie.  Our first day of October has been great; and we hope that’ll be true for the rest of the month – even if we won’t get to have daily co-ed sleepovers!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!